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Updated: June 14, 2025
For what motive are they on the platform which is just behind the tender? And what are they saying? What they are saying is this. Of these questions and answers exchanged between my lord Faruskiar and his companions, I do not lose a word. "When shall we be at the junction?" "In a few minutes." "Are you sure that Kardek is at the points?" "Yes; that has been arranged." What had been arranged?
Up to now Major Noltitz had taken no part in the discussion. Now he interrupted Popof, and in a voice heard by all he asked: "Where is Faruskiar?" They all looked about and tried to discover what had become of the manager of the Transasiatic. "And where is his friend Ghangir?" asked the major. There was no reply. "And where are the four Mongols who were in the rear van?" asked Major Noltitz.
We spoke to Popof, while Major Noltitz continued to watch Faruskiar and the Mongols. "The baron is mistaken," said Popof, "the railway is completed, and if a hundred yards of rails have been lifted here, it has been with some criminal intention." "To stop the train!" I exclaim. "And steal the treasure they are sending to Pekin!" says Caterna. "There is no doubt about that," says Popof.
Suddenly there is a burst of shouting, the thicket has given passage to the gang in ambush some sixty Mongols, nomads of the Gobi. If these rascals beat us, the train will be pillaged, the treasure of the Son of Heaven will be stolen, and, what concerns us more intimately, the passengers will be massacred without mercy. And Faruskiar, whom Major Noltitz so unjustly suspected? I look at him.
My lord Faruskiar and Ghangir, who had been the object of a personal invitation, had just arrived. The assembly respectfully rises to receive them. They will sign the deed of marriage. It is a great honor, and if it were my marriage I should be proud to see the illustrious name of Faruskiar figure among the signatures to the deed.
And who is this Kardek they are talking about? The conversation continues. "We must wait until we get the signal," says Faruskiar. "Is that a green light?" asks Ghangir. "Yes it will show that the switch is over." I do not know if I am in my right senses. The switch over? What switch? A half minute elapses. Ought I not to tell Popof? Yes I ought.
None of these travelers, Popof told me, would cross the Russo-Chinese frontier, so that they interested me little or not at all. During dinner, at which all my numbers were present I have twelve now, and I do not suppose I shall go beyond that I noticed that Major Noltitz continued to keep his eye on his lordship Faruskiar. Had he begun to suspect him?
That was a proposal worth consideration, and we assembled to consider it, Major Noltitz, Pan-Chao, Fulk Ephrinell, Caterna, the clergyman, Baron Weissschnitzerdörfer, and a dozen others all who understood Russian. Faruskiar spoke as follows: "I have been looking at the portion of the line damaged by the band of Ki-Tsang. Most of the sleepers are still in place.
Faruskiar stands over him, towering above him. Suddenly he rises in a last effort, his arm threatens his adversary, he looks at him. A last thrust of the kandijar is driven into his heart. Faruskiar returns, and in Russian, with perfect calmness, remarks: "Ki-Tsang is dead! So perish all who bear weapons against the Son of Heaven!"
Beyond the Kara Nor, where a few towns appear, the approach to China Proper, populous and laborious, becomes more evident. This part of the desert of Gobi has little resemblance to the regions of Eastern Turkestan we crossed on leaving Kachgar. These regions are as new to Pan-Chao and Doctor Tio-King as to us Europeans. I should say that Faruskiar no longer disdains to mingle in our conversation.
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